Need alternative to my Alix or APU? Under $350

kapara

Here is a possibility…

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856107164

jwt

I am going to have to begin replacing the Alix systems with new hardware due to the performance issues I have been experiencing putting 2.3 on the Alix and APU.

I need at leat 3 GB$ ports. The price point on the SG-2440 is outside of my range. Can anybody provide a solution for a build with 3 ports that is under 350?

Performance requirements are minimal.

5-25 users.
2-4 VPN users
Internet will not exceed 50/100 down and 50/100 up.

Wait for it.

kapara

What?

jwt

@kapara:

What?

https://twitter.com/adiengineering/status/738127653224501248

mattlach

Would you mind sharing what kind of performance issues you have had?

I'm about to build a pfSense machine based off of an APU2C4, and I hope I haven't made a mistake.

Guest

APU2C4
Jetway NF9HG-2930

jahonix

@jwt:

https://twitter.com/adiengineering/status/738127653224501248

Can I pre-order?

mattlach

@mattlach:

Would you mind sharing what kind of performance issues you have had?

I'm about to build a pfSense machine based off of an APU2C4, and I hope I haven't made a mistake.

To follow up with my own post, I just installed pfSense on my APU2C4 last night and I am very happy with the performance.

I've measured iperf performance through it at 595Mb/s, with CPU load ranging from ~20-40%. Enabling TSO/LRO does not seem to help (in fact it increases CPU load, and marginally lowers throughput speed)

Either way, this is more than sufficient for my needs with my 150/150 mbit connection.

Power consumption is fantastic. At idle it sits at 5.8-6.5W, and loading it up with iperf only raises the consumption to ~6.5-7.2W, both as measured at the wall using my Kill-A-Watt device.

I'm pretty damned happy with this little device. Unless Google fiber comes to town, and I suddenly have gigabit internet available to me, it should fit my needs quite nicely.

kapara

I am referring to my 1st gen APU systems. I had not realized they have new ones! ;D

I used to buy only from Netgate but they have since stopped selling them. I noticed mini-box.com is selling them now also.

mattlach

@kapara:

I am referring to my 1st gen APU systems. I had not realized they have new ones! ;D

I used to buy only from Netgate but they have since stopped selling them. I noticed mini-box.com is selling them now also.

I've noticed that US retailers have a pretty crazy markup on PC Engines products.

I got mine shipped directly from PC Engines in Switzerland to the US. Only took three days, and a complete kit (APU2C4 board, case, AC Adapter, 16GB mSATA SSD) wound up costing $173 shipped.

kapara

Wow. Thats great thanks for sharing.

kapara

On the shopping cart it shows the case is only for APU.1 and not APU.2 is that correct?

Willo

I got a Mini-PC from Qotom off eBay. Only dual LAN but they may have models with more LAN ports or it does have a miniPCIe slot, you could add more ports that way.

Great unit

Quad Core Celeron N3150
4GB Kingston RAM
32GB mSata SSD - SanDisk

Exact model I brought
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262461544164?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I just got it and about to install PfSense on it. It's cheap enough I can buy a spare for when and if the hardware faults.

Worth a look.

Willo

Guest

I've measured iperf performance through it at 595Mb/s, with CPU load ranging from ~20-40%. Enabling TSO/LRO does not seem to help (in fact it increases CPU load, and marginally lowers throughput speed)

500+ MBit/s is shown at the pfSense hardware website, that therefore a CPU with >2,0 GHz is needed.
So nearly 600 MBit/s is really nice then.

Either way, this is more than sufficient for my needs with my 150/150 mbit connection.

For that it is really sufficient enough.

I'm pretty damned happy with this little device. Unless Google fiber comes to town, and I suddenly have gigabit internet available to me, it should fit my needs quite nicely.

Then you will need something with >2,0GHz per CPU or Core as a minimum.

On the shopping cart it shows the case is only for APU.1 and not APU.2 is that correct?

Then email them and ask a pre-sales question for that. The case is an elementary part ot the CPU cooling
and it will be the best to know things such like this earlier and not later.

TD22057

@Willo:

Exact model I brought
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262461544164?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I just got it and about to install PfSense on it. It's cheap enough I can buy a spare for when and if the hardware faults.

That's the unit I've been looking at as well (lots of sellers on aliexpress.com). It would be great if you could post your experiences with it.

kapara

hmm. no AES-NI? No Intel NICS? possibly but I would be cautious.

TD22057

@kapara:

hmm. no AES-NI? No Intel NICS? possibly but I would be cautious.

Not sure which post you're referring to but the N3150 does have AES (but not Intel NICS).
http://ark.intel.com/products/87258/Intel-Celeron-Processor-N3150-2M-Cache-up-to-2_08-GHz

kapara

nice. Well if you get it I look forward to hearing your experience. Thanks for the suggestion!

Zebibyte

The APU.1 case works with the APU.2, it's just not clear from the website. Very happy with my first pfsense box.

Here is what I ordered direct from PC Engines, with 2 extra AC adapters, it was $196 including 3 day shipping

1 apu2c4 APU.2C4 system board 4GB
1 case1d2u Enclosure 3 LAN, alu, USB
3 ac12vus2 AC adapter 12V US plug for IT equipment
1 msata16d SSD M-Sata 16GB MLC Phison

On the shopping cart it shows the case is only for APU.1 and not APU.2 is that correct?

Then email them and ask a pre-sales question for that. The case is an elementary part ot the CPU cooling
and it will be the best to know tthings such like this earlier and not later.

Willo

@TD22057:

That's the unit I've been looking at as well (lots of sellers on aliexpress.com). It would be great if you could post your experiences with it.

I just got it straight from eBay. Will definitely post experiences. I think it will be well over specced so speed will not be an issue.

@kapara:

hmm. no AES-NI? No Intel NICS? possibly but I would be cautious.

Definitely AES but no Intel NICS. They are Realtek RTL-8111 which are supported on FreeBSD so I can't see too many issues, Realtek aren't too bad ;)

@TD22057:

Not sure which post you're referring to but the N3150 does have AES (but not Intel NICS).
http://ark.intel.com/products/87258/Intel-Celeron-Processor-N3150-2M-Cache-up-to-2_08-GHz

Correct! :)

I will post experiences shortly. They are so cheap, I'm thinking of buying another one for redundancy in the unlikely event it fails.

It came with unactivated Win 7 build which scores pretty well on Windows Experience score, I'm thinking it will fly :)